Thoughts on Morality and Freedom
What role does morality play in the life of a country? That question was raised by David Brooks in a recent New York Times opinion piece. The essay appeared three days after the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Brooks asserted that during the debate Trump’s “savagery made ordinary human conversation impossible.”
Beyond the debate, Brooks portrayed key incidents of Trump’s campaign as “moral events.” He cited references to military veterans and war dead as “suckers and losers;” downplaying the pandemic; and supporting white supremacists. Brooks’ harsh conclusion: Trump is “first and foremost an immoralist, whose very being was defined by dishonesty, cruelty, betrayal and cheating long before he put on political garb.”
The central role of moral character in society is asserted in a new book by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks titled, Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times. Rabbi Sacks, the former chief rabbi of the United Kingdom, speaks about the relation between morality and freedom. He writes, a moral society is committed to justice, compassion, concern for the welfare of others, mutual respect, trust and openness to others.
Rabbi Sacks identifies three basic institutions common to all countries. There is the state government, which establishes the country’s legal framework and the distribution of power. Without the state, “Life would be lawless, and each of us will live in constant fear of death.” There is the market economy, capable of creating great wealth and eliminating poverty. And there is the moral system with a set of shared values that citizens live by.
Moral principles “have to do with conscience, not wealth or power. But without them, freedom will not survive,” he writes. “There is no liberty without morality, no freedom without responsibility.”
Brooks sees Trump’s immorality as a threat to “the basic stability of civic life.” He warns that “moral degradation is an invisible process. It happens subtly over time.” We detect gradual loss of freedom when protestors are denied the right to march peacefully, or when domestic extremists are radicalized toward violence. The principles of a moral society are being discarded, and we are less free for it.